BTW, the fact that Eli Manning, who passed for less yards and TDs than my Mathew Stafford, still managed to get into the ProBowl, while my Stafford was snubbed, has nothing whatsover to do with my sudden, deep hatred of the Giants. Nothing! Nothing! Nothing!

I believe that had Welker made the catch the Patriots likely would have scored a touchdown and been up by 9 points with less than four minutes left (and in that position I do not believe the Giants would have scored twice in that four minutes).

However having said that, I believe multiple factors were involved.

I also believe that had Gronk been healthier that game would have been very different (e.g. on the play when Brady was intercepted, Gronk had beaten the Giants defender and I believe if healthy would have come up with the ball).

Another factor was the twelve men on the field penalty (the Patriots had forced a fumble and recovered it, only down 2-0, had they not committed that penalty, it would not have been 9-0 and again a very different outcome).

Another factor is when the Giants made their big play, the Patriots wasted a time out challenging the call. Had they not challenged the play and had two time outs in that last minute Brady would not have been forced to end with a “hail Mary” pass play.

Also in that last minute they had two more drops one by Fernandez, but a bigger one by Branch because it would have covered about twenty yards and it looks like Branch may have gotten out of bounds on the play (or they might have used that second time out if they had it). So while I do not believe it came down to one single play, there were these other factors that combined for the Patriots loss.

I had said/predicted before the game that if the Patriots stopped the New York pass rush (which they did, they gave up only two sacks the whole game and for the most part Brady had time to make throws every time he went back to throw) and if the Patriots defense played well (they did, forcing three fumbles but not recovering two and having the one they recovered nullified by the twelve men on the field penalty), they would win. Both of those things happened and yet they still lost (I just did not count on the dropped passes, the twelve men on the field penalty, and only having a single time out at the end of the game).

I can't believe that you accepted Robert's ridiculous analysis. The pass to Welker was a very difficult one to catch. Even a great catcher (which Welker is) would have difficulty holding onto it. Even if Gronk had been healthy, the pass was too short, and he never would have caught it. At best he might have been able to stop the defender from catching it. Likewise with the drops by Fernandez and Branch. Not easy balls to catch.

As for the challenge play, Belichik had to throw the red flag immediately, before Manning started another play. There wasn't time to see the replay and no that Manningham had made the catch.

The one big mistake was not letting the Giants score on their first run from the 7 yard line. There would have been 1:04 left on the clock and two time outs, instead of 0:57 on the clock and one time out.

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About Me

I am the author of C. S. Lewis's Dangerous Idea: In Defense of the Argument from Reason, published by Inter-Varsity Press. I received a Ph.D in philosophy from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1989.